Wednesday, September 27, 2006

housey questions....

For those of you with condo experience...your thoughts? We went to see one last weekend and of all the places we've seen so far, we fell IMMEDIATELY in like with this one. It is move-in ready. 2 years old. 2 floors, beautiful, close to all our shiznit, and MAYBE with a little haggling, within our price range. I want to know more about condo-living. Specifically, the fees, the 'rules', etc. I know they are different with every place - but if you know stuff, bring it.

Also - Verdun. Anyone live there? There is a possibility here as well. What are the 'good' areas?

And finally, WHERE'S KNEESOX?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

When we were looking for our first house I emphatically told our agent that I did not want to look at condos.

Well, we ended up buying one. It was GREAT!

Yes, there are rules - make sure you have your lawyer break 'em down for you.

But there are advantages - your insurance is lower since you only have to cover the inside, the condo takes care of the outside of the house on their policy. Water is usally a condo thing too... so your condo fees are basically the same as what you'd have in other bills anyway... and you get your grass cut!

Milky

Jul said...

I lived in Verdun, in many parts of it... You want to stay west of the avenues. Anything east of 6th Ave is not very nice (read lots of loud kids, many dogs, lots of teens living in their first place out of the nest, parties, etc). I lived on Egan for 2 years(a few streets west of 6th Ave), and aside from being on ground level, I loved it. you are close to evreything, and Verdun has everything. I would move back if I found a really nice place. Verdun is often claimed to be the next Plateau...

Maria said...

I don't know much about condo living, but my friends live in a brand new condo in Pierrefonds. They love it. Only thing they don't like is that the super of the buidling uses their condo fees for stupidness...like building himself a small little room in the garage. Most of the occupants of the building still don't know what he needed to build that 2 x 4 room for and what the heck does he do in there?

Anonymous said...

One of my friends just bought her new condo with her boyfriend in Verdun. She's right next to Parc Angrignon , steps away from the green line..she loves it. Her dad helped her give a little more spice to the place (tiles in the kitchen and bathroom, etc) but it's super.
HOWEVER, another one of my friends bought a condo fresh from the contractor (before it was built) and it was a nightmare.
Anyways....long stories...

Anonymous said...

Just to clarify my previous post for ya - by CONDO, I was referring to a 3 bedroom townhouse, not an apartment building.

Reading some of the other posts it dawned on me that "condo" is used most often to describe apartments.

Milky

Anonymous said...

Of course I'm here, darlin'...(Hello darlin'/nice to see you/it's been a long time...k, 'nuf of the Conway Twitty).

My piece of advice wrt condos is that a bad board of directors (made up of tenants of the building) can make a good building not so good over time. You see, it's the board that decides how much condo fees should be and decisions on the upkeep, etc of common areas. Our agent advised us against buying a brand new unit b/c you never know how it will be maintained. In the end we bought a 15 year-old unit b/c we could see how spotless the whole building was. Very well run.

Also, low condo fees may sound like a great deal (Yipee!! A Bargain!) but that could also indicate the board has not asked for enuf $$ from tenants over time. You then may be hit with a large bill at some point to pay for your portion of major renovations of the whole building (roof, windows, asphalt, etc.). Especially true for older buildings.

It may sound boring but ask for the minutes of the board meetings. You should get a good idea of how things are run from them.

Bonne Chance ma belle!